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By: Ina Steiner

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File it under, "Wish You Had Told Me Sooner" (or perhaps, "Wish You Had Told Me at All"). Some sellers received an email today from eBay that included an important message for eBay Store subscribers, though they might not have noticed it if they weren't reading carefully:

"Note that Store Inventory Format listings that come up for renewal between April 5 and May 5 with Subtitle, Bold or Gallery Plus listing upgrades will have the listing upgrades removed. We're doing this so you don't otherwise incur the higher regular price for these listing upgrades which take effect March 30."

eBay announced in January it would eliminate Store Inventory format and said that unless sellers wanted to pay $1.50 for the subtitle fees, which currently cost 2 cents, they would have to remove the feature from all of their listings by March 30. That's when eBay will convert all Store listings to Fixed Price listings.

I've heard from sellers who have spent days trying to remove the Subtitle feature, only to see that the checkmark remain.

An AuctionBytes reader quantified the dilemma facing sellers when they wrote in a Letter to the Editor that a Store subscriber with 1,000 listings who currently pays $20 for subtitles would end up paying $1,500 if they failed to remove the feature from their listings - a whopping 7400 percent increase in fees in one fell swoop!

Ultimately today's news is good news, because it means no nasty surprises on invoices. But for sellers who spent hours or days trying to remove the feature, well - they'll never get that time back.

Immediately following eBay's January announcement about the fee and Store changes, I asked eBay about this very issue, thanks to a reader who recognized right away the potential impact on his business (you can listen to the podcast interview I conducted with Todd Lutwak on January 31st, it's about 9:27 minutes into the interview).

It's a shame it took eBay this long to change its policy. And I sincerely hope it will do a better job of communicating this significant announcement, since there are probably some frustrated Storeowners right now trying to purge their listings of the dreaded subtitle checkmark.

by: Squabbie

Great. Two days after I spent hours editing all my $@&*!?#% listings!!!

I wish eBay would stop using Pony Express to deliver their messages to sellers...

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Vee

Thu Mar 4 11:30:45 2010

It was a fast moving train ready to crash.

A Golden Medal of Award -- and a hearty Thank You to Ina and David of AuctionBytes.

From all of us who sell with a Store on ebay -- who may continue selling on ebay after the grievously expensive new Fee Structure goes into effect, March 30, 2010, thank you, Ina and David, for contributing wisely on behalf of ebay Store Sellers, to the urgent and timely clarity on behalf of ebay Sellers regarding the future removal by ebay of the existing 2 Cent Subtitle Fees to listingsapplicable in ebay Seller Store. Your Editorial today clarified that ebay will remove the Subtitles because the ‘new fee pricing’ effective April 1st may have generated a fee of 1.50 per Subtitle listing to each item, each Store, each Seller. My ‘bill’ at 1.50 per Subtitle would have cost a theoretical charge of 1.50 x 382 Listings = equals a financial Nightmare to my credit card for April 2010.

Quite frankly -- like wise detectives in search of cause and effect, Ina and David must have done some serious wrangling of ‘getting to the bottom of it all’ to be able to announce Today to AuctionByte Readers that ebay will henceforth assume corporate software responsibility, effective with its new pricing, April 2010, and it will Automatically REMOVE/Delete the SUBTITLE words and associated Subtitle Fees in existing ebay Store accounts – as compared to ebay generating to Store Sellers an automatic ‘new’ fee of 1.50 per Subtitle listing, effective April, 2010.

1. Take NOTE -- ebay Store Sellers…Had you fully realized that ebay’s new Fee Calculator Table had not listed any information on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of its ‘new’ Subtitle Listing fees??2. Take Note -- ebay Store Sellers: Had you seen that ebay’s pages/pages of thickly written & complicated text on the New Pricing Policies had, in a line tucked within a paragraph, noted Subtitle Fees were to ‘become’ 1.50 per listing, from the current 2 cent pricing? 3. Take Note—ebay Store Sellers: This seeming lack of visibility by ebay toward the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of Subtitle Listings reflects a lesson to any Seller in maintaining keen awareness, attentiveness to pricing Details, visibility of clear information regarding one’s Account, and………Sometimes, --- it’s not what’s said that’s important; rather, it is what is Not Said,not explained, not shown to be fully explained AS IT RELATES to THE FINANCIAL CHARGES that will be levied toward any type of Financial Debt Due/Seller Account. 4. Take Note: ebay Store Sellers: ebay’s Bulk Listing software does not, and never has, fully and totally removed all indications of generating a Subtitle Fee. The checkmark remains after the words of the Subtitle are removed when using Bulk Edit. The checkmark in that box generates the Fee. 2 cents would have moved to 1.50 per listing.

THANK YOU, Ina and David, for working on behalf of each and every ebay Seller whose awareness to the full picture of the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the new pricing Fees by ebay could have been a train wreck done, rather than only feared.

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Patricia

Thu Mar 4 11:31:43 2010

True to form for Ebay....its evident they are making up these rules as they go along. Nothing is thoroughly thought out. Its up to the seller to be ever vigilant!

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Par for the course

Thu Mar 4 11:35:40 2010

You gotta love ebay, come buy a store. It'll be good for you. Whoops did the stores crash, err.. I mean "glitch".

Seems like everytime ebay promotes something it crashes. What does that say for the trust and stability of ebay?

Maybe they should spend less time trying to get sellers to spend more money and spend some of their own on their infrastructure. I'm not holding my breath on that one.

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Bonne

Thu Mar 4 11:47:07 2010

Reason number 14 why I never go to EBay for anything.

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: another side of the coin

Thu Mar 4 13:21:42 2010

Really makes you wonder if this was just an oversight on eBay's part or an on purpose, hoping they don't get caught in collecting million after March 30.

Always have to look at every angle with eBay.

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Ed Gadfly

Thu Mar 4 13:39:28 2010

Very impressive Ina!

See, everybody wanted a Seller's Advocate!

1. Flat Rate boxes2. Subtitles settled3. ????

My vote is get Google to do auctions.

Many Thanks!

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: just a peon

Thu Mar 4 13:55:01 2010

~~ATTENTION SELLERS~~

Knowing how ebay conducts itself, be sure to SAVE THAT EMAIL that they sent you on this (maybe a screenshot of it in your ebay messages wouldn't hurt either), because we are all painfully aware of the frequent ebay "glitches" that end up costing YOU a small fortune!

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Who cares

Thu Mar 4 17:25:56 2010

TAKE those ADS off my listings not MY subtitles of MY stuff. What a bunch of corrupt nitwits.

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Buck Efay

Thu Mar 4 17:29:31 2010

You forgot to add Profits next to the downward arrow above! Because there are none to be made anymore. Busiest week of 2010 so far, I have 2 garbage bags fiull of items for the post office tomorrow, and not 1 sale from Ebay.

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Smitty

Thu Mar 4 18:14:29 2010

@ Squabbie,

In the long run, it may turn out that you did the right thing.

@ Patricia

''Its up to the seller to be ever vigilant!''.

And that still holds true regarding this situation.

The fact that,

''Some sellers received an email today from eBay that included an important message for eBay Store subscribers, though they might not have noticed it if they weren't reading carefully''

''Note that Store Inventory Format listings that come up for renewal between April 5 and May 5 with Subtitle, Bold or Gallery Plus listing upgrades will have the listing upgrades removed. We're doing this so you don't otherwise incur the higher regular price for these listing upgrades which take effect March 30.''

Does not mean that you can forget this very important deal. Don't trust ebay to protect your interests. Knowing what ebay has become, I can foresee them telling a seller who has just been hit with hundreds or thousands of dollars of subtitle fees, that it was the seller's responsibility to remove them and all other features.

If that seller mentions the email that other sellers received, I can see ebay explaining that only applied to sellers who actually received the email.

Actually, they might even tell the sellers who received the email that is was a ''glitch'' or in error. Didn't they recently send out a email with some benefit to sellers, and then renege on the offer a day or two later.

Never forget what Ming told you time after time. These days, it's just second nature for ebay.

Smitty

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Sue

Thu Mar 4 23:24:28 2010

What's the next glitch? The 50 cent International Visibility fee that is currently free in store listings. Are they taking that out too?

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: NEWS

Fri Mar 5 05:37:42 2010

Just out on the US daily News & Report:Most admired companies : include GOOGLE (of course), Amazon (right up there), Yahoo, a few others. LEAST admired - yup, ebay.

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Steve

Fri Mar 5 15:08:25 2010

I was never under the impression I would have to remove my subtitles. I was told in a phone call message that they would be removed by eBay when it came up for renewal. This phone call was a month ago.

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Tired of eBay's Bullsh*t

Fri Mar 5 15:09:44 2010

It's good that eBay is at least trying to make this right, but this sort of utter incompetence on the part of eBay management is what continues to drive sellers nuts (and, away to other venues).

Despite having weeks ago deleted all my subtitle text using Selling Manager (but NOT the dreaded checked checkbox, since there was no way to accomplish that in bulk), and despite eBay's assurance that they will remove and not charge for subtitle on listings that transition from Inventory to FP30 on Mar 30...

... I still intend to watch my listing rollover one by one -- and I suggest that you also do the same.

eBay may *intend* to prevent this disaster, but they are so inept that I'm unconvinced they can get anything right.

I'm glad they backtracked on this. Now they, IMHO, need to rethink the new draconian DSR requirement.

-Tired

eBay Will Remove Subtitles on Store Listings (Finally)

by: Frustrated

Fri Mar 5 20:36:24 2010

Forget ebay.. the only thing that will ever make them wake up and realize they are not god, is everyone getting up and leaving. However, in the "real world" some cannot afford this measure..so..what's the alternative?

Leave your items there for now, duplicate them on epier using an email you frequently check, completely free to list..list them and leave them til you get a sold notice. They are completely free to list, small fee if item sells..downfall..not enough traffic until enough sellers show up.

Atomic mall is another of the same, not an auction site but an online mall.

If you sell handcrafted items, use artfire. No per item fees of any sort, I think 10 items free, only a small monthly fee if you decide you need a huge store inventory. $12 I think it is now, $15 soon..still..no per sale / listing fees..cheaper than ebay.

There a quite a few places sellers could go to sell and except all the other payment forms while leaving items on feebay just long enough to show their power together on another site and make enough to leave feebay permanently.. if they all go, where do you think the buyers are going?

The only thing keeping feebay alive is the seller's unwillingness to leave and ebay knows it, they even flaunted it themselves with their public comment..go elsewhere..with a smirk I'm sure :/

Ummmm .... am I missing something here? What about listings that come up for renewal between March 30 and April 5?

I don't trust eBay enough to 100% depend on them to fix this themselves, and will be manually removing the check mark myself. Last time they did one of these huge changes, I was charged tons of money for upgrade features that they were suddenly charging an arm and a leg for. I'm planning on maybe keeping a few items listed on eBay, but am moving most everything to my current eCRATER Store! I LOVE not having to pay listing or FVF!

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